When I was 14 and just starting learning golf, I used to practice, during Philadelphia winters, with a Whiffle ball in our living room. Sort of half swings with a Bobby Jones blade 9 iron. I got pretty good knocking that Whiffle over the living room couch and against the curtains…until…one day…when I got a […]
mental game
What we can learn from…
Sahith Theegala had a great amateur career, won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, but has never won on the PGA Tour, though he’s been in contention a couple times in this his rookie season. He drives to each tournament. His parents are immigrants from India. Sahith was born in Orange County, California. On Sunday […]
Tiger and Charlie
For me, it was uplifting, in this time of doom and gloom, to see Tiger and his son playing golf at the PNC father/child event, as well as others like 86 year old Gary Player, 82 year old Lee Trevino, ageless Tom Watson, Henrik Stenson and his 11 year old son, and the eventual winners […]
A Game for all Seasons…almost
Now I’m not suggesting you play golf as I did at 17 in Philly with temperatures hovering at 32 degrees, the ground frozen solid with patches of snow and ice on and around the creeks and ponds, and me wearing three sweatshirts, wool cap pulled down over my ears, and longjohns with heavy pants, with […]
A Recently Discovered Secret to Solid Contact
The other day I attended a LPGA event south of Portland and I paused to watch one of the participants warming up at the range. Actually I was about to leave when her swing and its results caught my eye and my ear. The solid sound her irons made was captivating. I stopped and watched […]
What we can learn from Patrick Cantley
Patrick “Iceman” Cantley may well be our modern Ben Hogan, who was also known as the “Iceman.” In the last two tournaments of 2021, Cantley took down two of the best in today’s game, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. Like David defeating Goliath, like the tortoise besting the hare, like the Trojan Horse deceiving and […]
The Element of Distraction and How to Overcome It
I had had a good practice session at the range the day before my round, and had high expectations for a major scoring accomplishment. But right from my first wayward tee shot, I could tell something was amiss, and, sure enough, I shot a rather miserable 47 front nine, pocked by bogeys and doubles and […]
Pace: Find your Model
When I was a kid, one of the pros I admired was Gene Littler who won the U.S. Amateur, scored 29 victories on the PGA Tour, including the U.S. Open in 1961. Gene the Machine, they used to call him, for his smooth, easy, repeating swing. For a time, he was my model for how […]
Learning from Fabulous Phil Mickelson
Taking over five hours, with time between shots and holes, golf requires mental focus, perhaps more than any other sport. From three-foot putts to irons over water to drives down tight fairways, you need to stay focused to insure all your relevant body parts are in sync with your brain’s neurons; for anything out of […]